What Have You Been Enjoying Lately?

I don’t believe I’ve read a Stephen King novel since I was in my early twenties. Misery might have been the last one. Not because I don’t enjoy his books, but because they keep getting gianter and gianter. His early releases (with the exception of The Stand) are normal-sized, but over the years they’ve all expanded to a thousand pages, or thereabouts. And that’s intimidating.

However, I pre-ordered his new one, 11/22/63. It’s a time travel story, and I love that kind of thing. It released last Tuesday, and downloaded to my Kindle while I was at work Monday night. On Friday evening I started reading it, and am already 25% finished. That’s about 250 pages, in dog years.

And man, it’ll suck you in. I can’t stop reading it. I got roughly three hours of sleep last night, because of that thing — and an early-morning obligation. I now feel like I’m walking around underwater, but it was worth it. I read the coolest scene last night, right before I turned off the light…

King is the kind of writer who makes it look easy. He uses simple language, in a straightforward way. It causes a person to believe they might be able to pull it off, too. But when you sit down and actually give it a shot, you realize just how skilled that mofo really is. If you’re interested, his book on writing (called On Writing — I told you he was straightforward), is really, really good.

Anyway, I’m enjoying 11/22/63. However… I’ve noticed characters in 1958 speaking phrases I don’t believe were in popular use at that time. Like “shopping mall,” for instance. I could be wrong, but that feels like a 1970s phrase to me. Before that, I believe they were called shopping centers. Am I way off? Also, “lip-synching.” There’s no way that was a 1958 phrase. I think it was something that came out of music videos, and the early MTV days. Right?

Another thing I’m enjoying is the re-launched version of Beavis and Butthead. It’s exactly like the old version, and it still makes me laugh. I saw one last night where they wandered into a room on an Army base, while on a field trip, and began playing around with drones flying above the Middle East. They believed it was a video game, and comedy ensued.

The show is still great, in my opinion, and I look forward to new episodes every week. And I’m already re-watching the ones I saw last week… Mike Judge can do no wrong, as far as I can tell. Even The Goode Family rocked.

And finally, I saw an interesting documentary on Netflix a few days ago. It’s called Winnebago Man, about a guy who spewed profanity while making a sales video for Winnebago, back in 1989. Someone put together an outtakes collection, and it went viral, during the VHS days. Now it’s on YouTube, and the makers of the film went in search of this angry “Winnebago man.” It’s a good movie, and really funny in parts.

What are you enjoying these days? Is there anything good we should know about? Please tell us in the comments section below.

Semi-humorous car commercial, but posted mainly for Greg and Chuck if Belpre. Remember Rob Liotti, lead singer of the Parkersburg rock band “High Voltage” back in the 80s? Here is what he’s doing now. Enjoy!

Wasn’t he a big time football player before he started that band or something? The last I heard they were planning a movie about AC/DC’s Bon Scott in Australia and Rob was being considered for it. Man I think it would be great to get a story on him if we could. I have seen some video on Youtube of him. Maybe WV Surf Report could do something. I think that would be awesome.

I JUST finished Under the Dome about a week ago! Over 1100 pages long, and after I was done, I found out that it is going to be on Showtime (as a miniseries?) Awesome book, AND Brian K. Vaughn is doing the Showtime series, too…awesomer!

If you want to start – look for a group of short stories called Graveyard Shift. It starts with “The Mist” which is a good intro to his style. The rest of the stories arn’t bad but they’ve been made in to some terrible movies (notably Maximum Overdrive) which was a decent little short story called Trucks.

For some of his best work though? The Green Mile… Shawshank Redeption (called something about rita hayworth or something)

Or not… I don’t get paid a commission so no skin off my teeth (where the hell did THAT phrase come from?)

The story that became Stand by Me (The Body), Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and two other really good novellas can be found in a book called Four Seasons. Just a hint of the supernatural in the last story, the rest are fairly mainstream, and it’s some of his best work.

If you’re wondering about lip-syncing–and not only lip-syncing, but the crappy, couldn’t give a shit kind–pick out your favorite (or least favorite) band from the 60s and type it into Youtube for guaranteed lip-syncing (dis)pleasure.

The amazing thing about Stephen King was that he wrote some of his doorstoppers in the 80s on a cloud of coke and massive gallons of beer, raiding the medicine cabinet for listerine when the booze ran out. It’s all in “On Writing.”

Thanks for the emailed Monday update. The subject matter differs from the Website, but the writing style is the same. Great way to start the week; keep ’em coming.

Hack? I know that’s what my English professors kept screaming while I was in college, but I never really understood it. Granted, he has mass appeal, but that doesn’t negate talent. Have you read Bag of Bones or Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption?

The husband a.k.a. The Controller of the Remote and Mr. Sucky Movie Chooser has had to work the past two Sundays leaving me home alone to do viewing as I pleased.

Yesterday I watched back to back Chick Flicks: A Little Help with what’s her name from The Office and Notting Hill with my new hero Hugh Grant. Last Sunday I Netflixed up Four Weddings and a Funeral.

I cannot believe he has kept Hugh Grant hidden from my view all this time, well, except for Bridget Jones Diary on cable which I will watch from whatever point I happen upon it. I loves the little toady girl Zellweger, too.

His response was “I thought you didn’t like him since you made so much fun of him about the blow job thing.” Nah, I’ll make fun of anyone paying for a BJ from a hooker named Divine. Please.

I had absolutely no idea I would just adore me some Chick flicks. What else have I been missing?

Vicki: If you like Hugh Grant, “Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Bridget Jone’s Diary, then you need to Netflix “Love, Actually” the next time you have the remote all to yourself. Maybe you’ve already seen it. It’s centered around Christmas, so it should be playing about now. One of my very favorites.

Watch the movie entitled “Once.” Glen Hansard, Margita Irglova. Tell me what you think of it from a “chick flick” perspective. I have guy friends who absolutely love it, but female friends who hate the ending. It has really great music, and I thought, that while the ending coulda just as easily gone the other way, it was a really good way to end it.

I had (what I would consider) a similar experience this weekend. The wife was watching “Water for Elephants” and the main character’s parents were killed in a car accident – in the early 1930’s. I wasn’t around then, but didn’t the cars top out around 25 miles an hour? How did anyone die in a car accident back then? Doesn’t seem real to me at all.

I haven’t read Stephen King in ages but this one does look good. I’ve been reading a lot of Pat Conroy and his books are around 450 pages. If I could write even one paragraph as well as this guy writes I’d be happy.

Just burnt the bejesus out of my pie hole on some soup. And I’m still hungry!

Well THANK GAWD you are apologizing for whoring out your twitter feed. I had a feeling that’s what was going on.
I felt dirty FOR you.

Heh. You sold me on Winnebago Man. Great stuff and queued up on the instant. If you are a fan of another internet sensation, Banksy, I can recommend Exit Through The Gift Shop (also available at Netflix.

I do too, Jeff. I see things (like TV shows) that look interesting then some obscure title I’ve never heard of that is a documentary & I’ll watch it. Then I’ll check out all the suggested docs based on what you saw.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I HIGHLY recommend ‘The King of Kongs: A Fistful of Quarters’. It’s centered around annual Donkey Kong competitions & the guy who is the reigning king from when he was a teenager into adulthood is a supreme ass. I kept hoping someone would come along & just kick him in whatever balls he didn’t tuck that morning. Douche.
But seriously, it was a GREAT documentary!

I can’t wait to read it, but it will have to wait on a trip to Barnes and Noble. I buy all Stephen Kings in hard cover. Have you read Mile 81? As much as I love disappearing into a doorstop-sized Stephen King, his short stories hold their own appeal. My absolute favorite is Bag of Bones. A&E has a Bag of Bones miniseries coming out next month,and I’m hoping against hope that they don’t ruin it. For every Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me there is a The Dead Zone (Christopher Walken? really?) and Carrie.

As for what I’m enjoying right now, my TV is controlled by a toddler, so we’ve been switching back and forth all morning between Little Einsteins and The Dukes of Hazard (thank you, dear husband, for introducing that). I’m reading Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, the #3 in the Outlander Series. It’s a time travel story, and I’m in love with guys in kilts.

King has a reputation for not doing his research. Makes me want to scream, too. Shit like that throws me right out of a book. I’ve always thought he did his best work when he restricted himself to a short story format, truthfully. Describing the mailmans inner life at length in Cujo, for an example, did nothing whatsover to move the story along.

Best thing I’ve read recently is The Autobiography of Mark Twain. OO, the vitriol! It’s fantastic!

Once he got sober and started with the ‘Rose Madder’ kinda hosetripe it all started to read like he wrote it with Amy Tan sitting on his face. He’ll always have Graveyard Shift and ‘Salems Lot to his credit, though, and thats nothing to sneeze at. Particularly if you have Amy Tan sitting on your face.

Amy Tan sitting on his face? How ever would he reach the keyboard?? I didn’t enjoy Rose Madder or Dolores Claiborne, but Bag of Bones and Under the Dome were both great, and his last couple of books of short stories were great, too.

Lately my reading has been interrupted by the bouncing around in the upper-berth of the truck I’ve been in. After four weeks of non-stop running (I’m home for a bit) and the first-seat driver’s lame jokes…I am a Stephen King book. I imagine just killing the fucker outright. Or driving over a cliff in the Rockies and jumping at the right time. Or perhaps stuffing his smelly socks in his mouth and lighting them on fire blaming the whole thing on his need for kinky sex with truck stop hookers.

dto, I didn’t know you were a trucker! Man, after being stuck in Alaska without many roads for so long, that seems like an awesome life, although after a while I am sure it might get old. When I come down to the Lower 48 on vacation, I always drive a lot, as I have relatives stretched from Seattle to Maryland, and points in between. I once did Parkersburg to Seattle in slightly under 48 hour non-stops. I got stopped for 104 MH in Montana, when the limit was still “Safe and Prudent Speed.”
After 30 days, I returned the rental car, after filling it with gas and recording the mileage. When I got to the return counter, the guy punches in the numbers, looks at me and asks, “Uhhh, are you sure this mileage is correct? This shows you put over 10,000 miles on the car!” I looked at him and with a straight face answered, “Yep, that sounds about right.” I LOVE driving!

clintcurtis…Yeah, I’m headed back out by the weekend. I’ll do this for about two more months driving team. Average about 7000 miles a week with the guy I’m with, so I’ll have miles and time while getting decent pay when I look for something different. I’m more of a solo driver kinda guy but they say the money’s slim. We’ll see. Seems like they’d rethink the “Unlimited Mielage” thing with you the next time you do that.

I just picked up 11/22/63 yesterday, and I’m looking forward to it. Currently in the middle of rereading some ancient Larry Niven (‘Protector’, 1973), so I have to finish that first. And yes, King really does suck you in; over the years I’ve lost a lot of sleep to that bastard.

I liked King’s Gunslinger series a lot, as well as ‘The Stand’. ‘Dome’ and ‘Eyes of the Dragon’ were good too, although not as. I also enjoyed the hell out of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series; I’m hoping for a new book sometime next year. And, I recently reread Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle series; good stuff!

Top Gear comes on in a couple of hours. And I’m very pleased with the new Beavis and Butt-Head.
.

It’s funny you mentioned Larry Niven – I was just thinking about Niven’s Law (“Never waste the readers time”) in regard to Stephen King. I recently read one by King that broke that law so badly that I vowed to just stop reading him.

At his best, though, he is one hell of a good writer, so I’ll break that vow sooner or later.

Two words on Stephen King: “The Shining.” Wow, I was in my 20s when I read it and it was seriously the scariest book I have ever read. What a classic!

What have I been enjoying lately? 2 degrees above zero temperatures, a huge snowbank in front of my house, sledding with my daughters, taking diuretics and being able to pee regularly, and thewvsr.com and all the great people commenting here.